Research in Motion is trying its best to get smartphone customers to forget all about those cool Android and iOS based devices with the launch of a number of new Blackberry based phones. RIM announced this week that it has launched three versions of its Blackberry Torch phone (the 9810, the 9850 and the 9860) and two versions of its Blackberry Bold phones (the 9900 and the 9930). All of these phones run on Blackberry OS 7, the latest version of RIM"s proprietary operating system. These phones, the first new Blackberry phones that RIM has released in nearly a year, are all due for release later in August and will be made available on AT&T and Sprint wireless networks.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 phones are the thinnest Blackberry-based phones ever made at .41 inchs. They contain a 1.2 Ghz processor and a 2.7 inch screen on top of the familiar Blackberry keyboard. Inside is an 8 GB of memory and a 5 megapixel camera.
The Blackberry Torch 9810 has a touch screen and a slide out keyboard. There’s also 8 GB of storage inside. Both the Blackberry Touch 9850 and 9860 have no physical keyboard but do have a full 3.7 inch touchscreen. It’s the biggest such touchscreen made for a Blackberry device.
RIM hopes the launch of all these new Blackberry phones will help stop the decline of Blackberry’s market share in the smartphone business. Earlier this year the company launched its tablet product, the Blackberry Playbook, to poor reviews and sales. In July RIM announced plans to lay off 2,000 workers